Henk van der Ven, the vice president of Processes and IT for International Flavors and Fragrances, has been involved in systems analytics for manufacturing for over 20 years and he recently sat down with us and SAP Chemicals conference producer Thomas Martin to discuss some of the most significant trends impacting the marketplace.

The SpaceX company has called off Sunday's launch of a deep-space observatory. The countdown was halted at the two-and-a-half-minute mark at Cape Canaveral, Florida, because of a problem with a rocket-tracking system.

Automakers are cramming cars with wireless technology, but they have failed to adequately protect those features against the real possibility that hackers could take control of vehicles or steal personal data, according to an analysis of information that manufacturers provided to a senator.

Measuring the overall performance of your supply chain can be boiled down to a few key questions. Is the supply chain acquiring the things your organization needs? Is it providing customers with the things they need? And is it doing it all in the right time and for the right price?

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler proposed redefining broadband internet as a telecommunications service rather than an information service. While this change seems like an issue of semantics, it has massive implications for individual internet users, broadband internet service providers, and businesses of all sizes.

Cuba's Moment, a report from the MAPI Foundation, the research affiliate of the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, concludes that a strong manufacturing sector is unlikely to develop without aggressive action on a number of fronts, including domestic investment, inward investment, trade, workforce development, and access to capital markets.

The first nationwide strike at U.S. oil refineries since 1980 is spreading to two BP plants in the Midwest. Workers at refineries in Ohio and Indiana will strike late Saturday night, joining a walkout that began this week at nine other refineries.

Land Rover and Jaguar are recalling 104,000 vehicles because of problems with the brakes and lights.The largest recall involves a brake-hose issue that Jaguar Land Rover North America studied and dismissed, only to reopen after an accident.

For 31 years Wes Dean has been supporting production, maintenance, IT and warehouse operations – the majority of that time being spent in the Coors and MillerCoors family. Dean recently sat down to discuss a number of trends and challenges impacting maintenance and asset management for manufacturers.